CRAVE: Easy Entertaining

SAN ANGELO, Texas - A big party is just as easy as a small one if you plan in advance by inviting the best cooks in town! I have this down to a fine art! I am even training up some younger cooks to feed all of us in our old age! You are right if you guessed that it once again time for 4-H cooking! We have had the best time with about 60 young cooks from kindergarten to high school and the recipes that we are using are great for an individual family or a huge group.

The older kids made yeast dough and we used about 30 pounds of flour. That is over 100 cups! I think we could have fed a crowd! We had cinnamon rolls, Stromboli and just plain old yeast rolls. The Sunshine Sweet Potato Cups would make a great dish for Thanksgiving. It combines sweet potatoes, oranges, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, cloves and nutmeg all served in a pretty individual cup made of the orange rind. We used canned sweet potatoes for convenience but I can only imagine how good this would be with fresh sweet potatoes that had been baked and mashed. T. J. Rodriquez who has two children in the classes that made the sweet potato cups said that they heated them and had them for breakfast like a grapefruit half. Think how pretty they would look broiled with a maraschino cherry on top!

The kitchen at the Extension office smelled so good with the oranges, all those spices, cinnamon rolls and the pizza sauce and cheeses for the Stromboli. It smelled like the holidays were already here! The Dirt Cups are another party favorite. Who doesn't like a crushed up Oreo Cookie mixed with pudding? This is a recipe that your children could make for a party. They are going to learn how to party from you so make sure that they learn how to do it as soon as possible.

Add yeast to water, then add oil sugar and salt. Add half of the flour and beat by hand. Add the rest of the flour and stir until it makes a soft dough. Make into rolls. Let rise and bake at 350 to 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Cut the oranges in half and scoop out the filling. Remove the seeds and mix the orange pieces with the drained yams, margarine and brown sugar. Put this mixture in the orange cups. Bake at 325 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes.

Crush cookies in a zip loc bag with a rolling pin. Put milk and pudding in a large bowl. Mix until thick. Stir in cool whip and half the cookies. Put a spoonful of crushed cookies on the bottom of each cup. Top with pudding mix. Top with remaining crushed cookies. Decorate with gummy worms and nuts. Chill and serve.